


The Sky is New

by ChasetheWindTouchtheSky



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, I did that mainly because I found it hilarious, Roan is Max the horse, Tangled in the Canon Universe, Tangled!AU, and yes, two idiots falling in love while yelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22409059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChasetheWindTouchtheSky/pseuds/ChasetheWindTouchtheSky
Summary: When the citizens of the Ark returned to the Ground, they were surprised that a whole group of people survived. Chancellor Abby Griffin did her best to quell tensions, life-threatening pregnancy nearly lost her an alliance - as well as her baby. She drank tea from the petals of the last radioactive flower near Mt. Weather, saving the child but giving her a peculiar gift: the ability to maintain eternal youth.Queen of the Ice Nation steals the child in the dead of night, then overtaking Polis and the throne. She locks the child in a tower in order to maintain her power forever, using her gift to remain youthful.However, on Clarke Griffin's 18th birthday, she only has one wish: to get outside the tower. Fortunately Fate has dropped Arkadia's outlaw Bellamy Blake at her feet. With the promise of making a deal with his good friend the Chancellor, the two set out on a new adventure: freedom.The Tangled!AU I couldn't help but write.
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 33
Kudos: 166





	The Sky is New

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my loves! Happy January Joy!
> 
> I couldn’t help it. I saw too many gif sets of Bellarke x Tangled parallels, so I thought January Joy would be a good excuse to sit down and write it! I hope you enjoy – it’s Tangled with a Canon Twist. It’s a bit different than the canon, here are the deets:
> 
> The Ark came down before Clarke was born, and Clarke was born on the Ground. Queen Nia took Clarke after Abby took the flower, and now Queen Nia has taken over the abandoned Polis. And… yes. Roan is Max.
> 
> Let’s do this.

THE SKY IS NEW

_By ChasetheWindTouchtheSky_

The sun drips through the windows on a day like every other day. Except it isn't like every day in its heart, and Clarke can't help herself from getting excited in a way she has every day on this year. Bounding out of bed, Clarke leaps onto the cool cement of the Polis tower. She rips the blinds open to see the overgrowth of trees and bushes. She's never seen a person in the previous hub of activity. Mother told her it once was the capitol of the world - but it collapsed. The only detail she'd be willing to share is that it was due to the villainy of humanity. Nothing more.

Stretching her back, Clarke tucks her hair behind her ears. She peers around in the space, strands lying everywhere. Her golden locks sweep over the rafters of the building, hung in different areas of the small space. She looks at the knots and frizz that has accumulated overnight and sighs. It's going to be a long hair day.

"Clarke!"

Clarke startles at the noise. 

"Clarke, let down your hair!"

Rushing over to the side of the tower, Clarke sees Mother standing at the bottom. It's a long way down - more than any normal person would ever scale. Taking her long, blonde hair in her hand, Clarke throws it over a hook, watching it cascade to the ground. She doesn’t even feel it when Mother grasps it in her hand, but definitely feels it once the woman starts to climb.

After Polis collapsed, the buildings were ransacked. Stairs were broken, elevators torn for parts. Nothing more than a hollow building and a small room on top.

Clarke grasps the side of the window as the woman climbs up, her head aching. Clarke thought at one point the pain would go away, but it never does. She thought that maybe a part of the magic would be a super strong scalp, but alas, she didn’t get that particular brand of wizardy. Instead, she has to stand there, her hands braced against the side of the window, as a fully grown woman uses her as a pully system.

A pair of hands reach over the side of the Polis tower and Clarke’s greeted with a cold expression. The woman has lines of white drawn down her face, her thin lips pursing. “I always forget how different this room is.”

Clarke peers around. Her charcoal drawings are everywhere.

It started small. A little sketch in the corner where she thought Mother wouldn’t see. But she was always in this room – she couldn’t keep her creativity stifled. It took over the entire room – every inch. She can barely find any place to draw anymore – she’s even taken to erasing some of the old ones. There are faces and trees and animals and rivers. Everything she’s never been able to see – been able to experience. Right in the center is a forest with a moon hovering above everything. Serene.

“Different, as in bad?” Clarke asks.

“Different as in different.” Mother states, shaking her shawl off. She hands it to Clarke, who takes it without a second thought. “I brought you a surprise – I know how much you loved the berries over on the coast, so I made sure to get some.”

Usually Clarke would be nothing more than elated to have a gift from the outside, but she’s been practicing. She’s been practicing for an entire week and she knows Mother loves her. If she simply asks politely and pleads her case, she has to say yes.

“Mother, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about if you have a moment,” Clarke starts, twirling her hair between her fingers as she does when she’s nervous.

“Stand up straight, Clarke. And stop messing with your hair.”

Clarke takes a breath. She isn’t sure how she’s supposed to not mess with her hair – it’s everywhere. But she lets her fingers falls at her side. “Well,” she says with a bright smile. “I wanted to talk to you about today!”

“Today.”

“Yes, today.” Clarke nods. “Now, I don’t know if you know this, but today is my birthday!”

Mother frowns. “Birthday?”

“Yes, you know. And not just any birthday, it’s my 18th birthday! In some cultures, that means that I’m an adult.”

“What cultures?”

“I mean, I’ve read about them in books.” She says, her smile faltering. Shaking her head, Clarke tells herself she needs to remain positive. That’s what she always tells herself – she needs to be positive. Even when being positive seems impossible. “And I thought, since it’s my 18th birthday, I would maybe get to…”

“Stop mumbling, Clarke, you know how much I hate that.” Mother states. “It’s a sign of weakness, and we do not have time for any weakness. Do you understand?”

“Yes, of course. I understand, Mother.” Clarke feels her resolve rattling. But she pushes forward. Her life begins today. She’s been waiting for it, but her life begins _today_. “Well, every day on my birthday, there are these lights in the sky. I watch them every year and every year, they float on my birthday.”

Mother stills.

“I thought, since I’m an adult, that maybe I’d be able to go outside the tower and go see them. Just for tonight. Since it’s my birthday.”

Mother doesn’t respond right away. She’s facing the window where Clarke just pulled her up, her hands balled into fists. “You want to go outside?” She asks carefully.

Clarke holds her breath. She’s 18. Mother _has_ to let her outside. She can take care of herself. She knows she can take care of herself. She may have never been outside to the Ground, but she can figure it out.

“Clarke, do you understand how dangerous it is out there?” Mother says, turning around. Her eyes are dark – dark in the way they get when she’s upset about something. Clarke can’t help but recoil – she’s been on the receiving side of this mood often, and it never ends well. “Clarke, this isn’t like your little room in your tower. This isn’t like the books you read. The world out there is real and it will eat you alive. You are not prepared for what is out there.”

“Well, I—”

“No. No ‘wells.’ You simply cannot handle what this world has to offer. You’re fragile, like a flower. And flowers haven’t bloomed on this cruel world in ages. The moment you go out there, you will be devoured.”

“Maybe you can go with me—”

“Do you not respect the amount of work and time I give you already?” Mother asks. “You demand more? Perhaps I’ve been too easy on you. You think that I’m just a fairy godmother who will give you whatever you want.”

“No!” Clarke exclaims.

“Are you not grateful? Are you not safe in your tower?” Mother asks, her severe look hardening. “Have I not given you everything you needed? Food? Shelter? Have I not kept you safe?”

“Yes, but—”

“I didn’t realize I was raising such an ungrateful child.”

Clarke recoils, as if Mother had slapped her. She blinks, when the last piece of her resolve slips away. She does her best to keep the tears away, so she steals herself. “I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. But seeing as it is your birthday, I’ll forgive you. That’ll be your birthday present.”

Clarke blinks a few times to try and keep her tears from falling and smiles weakly. “Thank you, Mother.”

“Now come here and sing to you Mother. It’s been a long trip.”

Clarke doesn’t dare hesitate. Instead, she moves toward where Mother has placed herself the grand chair by the fireplace – a piece of furniture in her tower that she’s never allowed to be on. Clarke places herself at Mother’s feet on the floor like she always does. Mother grabs a part of her hair that’s all around the tower and places it in her lap.

It’s just another day.

No, it’s her birthday.

No… it’s just another day.

***

“You have got to be kidding!” Bellamy runs up to a tree where there’s a piece of paper posted on the trunk. He rips it off and pulls it with his hands. “Seriously, what the hell?” He holds it up to his companions. “Can you believe this shit? They really need to get someone in Arkadia who knows how to draw.”

Miller steps towards him and rolls his eyes. “Yes, that’s the part you need to be focusing on.” He rips the sign out of Bellamy’s hands. “Like anyone could capture your ugly mug.”

“Don’t lie to me, I’ve caught you checking out my ass.”

“Your ass is not your face, Blake, although I understand why you’ve gotten them two confused.”

Bellamy playfully shoves his friend and Miller stumbles, laughing. “If you guys aren’t going to make out, please stop.” Murphy groans. “Your sexual foreplay is annoying.”

“Don’t you mean platonic foreplay?”

“Can we just call it friendship?” Bellamy cries. 

Miller shrugs, as if he’s completely indifferent about anything that may have happened. “You should probably stop this whole ‘Robin Hood’ act you have going on. Chancellor Griffin is viewing it as an act of defiance.”

“Good, because I’m doing it defiantly.” Bellamy snaps, crumbling the ‘WANTED’ poster in his hands and tossing it aside. “She took away my baby sister and banned me from Arkadia. What does she expect?”

“You know, everything doesn’t have to be murder murder, stabby stab.” Murphy offers as he cleans under his fingernails with a dagger.

Bellamy gives him a look. “You know, I would consider it if that advice came from literally any other person but you.”

Murphy gestures wildly. “That hurts me to my core.”

“You’re a murdery asshole.”

“Well, at least I have good hair.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes, but then frowns. “You guys should probably get back to Arkadia. People are gonna be suspicious if you’re late. Did you bring what I asked?”

Miller groans. “I’m so going to be executed for this, but yeah. If you get caught, remember: you snuck into the Chancellor’s chambers and stole this. It wasn’t that you called upon the best thief in all of the city.”

“It’s why I keep you around, Miller, your light fingers.”

Miller laughs at that, pulling something out of his pocket.

Bellamy looks at the watch, frowning. “I don’t know why the Chancellor is so protective over this.”

“Maybe because it belonged to her now-dead husband?”

Taking it from Miller, Bellamy holds it up to his face. “You think it’ll work? I barter my way back into Arkadia with this?”

“You’ve had stupider ideas that have succeeded.” Murphy drawls. “Who knows.”

“Thanks guys. Hopefully I’ll see you on the other side.”

“If you mean because you’re gonna die, you’re right. Probably the next time we’ll be seeing you.”

“You’re such a prick, Murphy.” Miller says, shoving him. “Be safe out there, okay man? You never know what will happen.”

Bellamy nods, clapping his friend on the back as he pulls him into a hug. Murphy even allows himself to be dragged into it, and he watches the two on the horizon as they leave.

Flipping the watch in the air and grabbing it, Bellamy sets himself. He knows that this plan is pretty stupid. In fact, there’s a high probability that he won’t make it. But there’s a small possibility he’ll be able to see his sister again, and that’s all that matters. Even if it’s one percent, he’ll still take it.

There’s a shout and he freezes. A group of people burst through the branches, white streaks painted down their faces. At the head is a tall, burling man with shoulder-length hair halfway pulled up. He tilts his head. “Arkadia in Ice Nation territory? That seems a bit dangerous.”

“Fun fact: I am nota part of Arkadia.” Bellamy states, reaching to his back pocket where he keeps a small dagger. “So no worries here, just move right along.”

The man reaches down where Bellamy had cast the WANTED poster aside, and unravels it. “Even better. An Arkadia traitor. What do you say we do some fishing, boys?”

“Fishing?” Bellamy makes a face. “We aren’t even near the water.”

Apparently that’s the wrong thing to say.

The leader lets out a yell and everyone sprints toward him. Bellamy knows him and his dagger are no match for Ice Nation warriors, so he does what anyone with a brain would: he turns around and sprints in the opposite direction. They are hot on his heels, but he’s been running these woods for years now. He leaps over a fallen branch and he hears the frustration as they clamber over it. Laughing to himself, he sprints and they get further and further away.

Breaking through the line of trees, Bellamy stumbles into an open clearing. There are dilapidated buildings everywhere, rocks littering the ground. Houses are completely destroyed and there’s not a soul in sight.

Not a lot of places to hide either.

At the center is a giant tower, windows smashed in. Sprinting over to it, he looks inside the building to see that there’s nothing more than rocks and sand. Cursing, Bellamy looks up the tower. At the top is a small prick of light. “Oh my god, I’m going to have to scale this tower, aren’t I?”

The Universe doesn’t answer, but he knows it’s a ‘yes.’

Putting the dagger back in its sheath, Bellamy reaches up and grabs a ledge that is cracking apart. The climb is terrifying and rickety – and he waits for the Ice Nation soldiers to burst through the tree line, but they never do. It takes longer than he would ever care to admit, and by the time he reaches the top, he’s wheezing.

When he hops inside the tower, the lights are low. Peering around, Bellamy tries to see in the darkness, but there's nothing more than a few candles lit in the corner of the room. The wax drips down the side of the candle, showing him that there were others here, not long before. There's a faint smell of flowers and citrus, which doesn't seem to make sense in such a bleak Polis tower.

It isn't that which holds his attention. It's the monumental drawings everywhere, of everything he can think of. Flowers, trees, birds, animals. Every time he turns, there's something new.

In the corner, there's a drape. He steps up to it, tilts his head, and pulls it aside. 

It's the only bit of color in the room. Everything else has been painted in charcoal, but in the center is a brilliant work with thousands of colors everywhere. There are lanterns floating in the sky, giving off a bright hue of yellows and oranges. It's something he's seen in the distance, but never up close. 

Of course the Chancellor would create a whole event for the loss of her child, but God forbid he do whatever it takes to help his sister.

The hypocrisy is staggering.

Then he thinks that whoever did these drawings should be the one who makes his WANTED portraits.

It's the last thing he thinks before something hits him in the back of the head and he blacks out.

***

Whoever hit him, he's gonna punch in the face.

Bellamy blearily opens his eyes, there's a figure standing in front of him, the hem of her dress stitched and patched. The first thing he notices is that she's not wearing any shoes, but somehow isn't dirty. He isn't sure how this can happen, seeing as he gets dirty simply waking up. 

Restraining against his bondings, he looks to see what it's made out of. Rope, he knows how to maneuver. Steel, he can find something to leverage. It's a strange material, that he thinks it's something like rope, but it moves completely differently. It's shimmering and gold, and he frowns. No, it can't be. That doesn't make any sense. It couldn't be...

"Hair?" He cries, shifting around in his bonds.

"You listen to me!" A voice calls. It's higher than he expects, and there's a waver in it that tells Bellamy they're not as confident as one should be when tying up an intruder. "I don't know who you are, or where you came from--"

"You're not gonna get that by knocking people out, Princess." Bellamy drawls, struggling with the hair restraints. "Let me out of this, when is the last time you showered? You can't wash this every day."

"Washing your hair every day is damaging." The person snaps back. "Why would I intentionally damage my hair?"

"We're getting off topic. You were threatening me?"

"Yes!" They cry. "I don't know who you are, but you need to listen to me."

"You know I don't really have the time. I'll just leave." Bellamy tries to stand up, to no avail. "Oh wait, you've trapped me in your insane hair!"

"Just because it's different, doesn't mean it's insane."

The voice hesitates, then the person fully emerges from the darkness.

Bellamy startles. He didn't know what to expect from some in a tower with meters and meters of long, golden hair, but the woman standing in front of him certainly wasn't that. She has piercing blue eyes that make something in his chest twitch and he has to shake himself. "Who are you?" She asks.

Bellamy is finding it hard to string words together, let alone answer her.

"Didn't realize we'd get so existential when meeting." He manages, giving her a sly smile. This seems to startle her and he realizes that there may be something here. A plan formulates in his mind - he's fought his way out of endless tight spots, but he's never been given the opportunity to _flirt_ his way out of a jam.

There's a first time for everything.

"What are you doing up here, Princess?" He asks, taking the harsh nature out of his voice. The woman doesn't seem entirely convinced, her eyes narrowing. "That doesn't seem like the outfit of one of the clans."

"Clans?" She asks. "What are you talking about?"

"What, have you lived in a cave your entire life? The Grounder clans."

"...Grounders?"

He waits for the punchline or an actual punch.

When she doesn't say anything, it occurs to him that she may actually be serious. "The Grounders. The people who survived the end of the world and have been living on the Ground - who are you?"

"I asked you first." She states, steeling herself. Bellamy curses - he didn't mean to lose the upper hand, but she surprised him. "Who are you?"

So Bellamy does something his doesn't normally do with strangers. He tells the truth.

"Name's Bellamy. Your tower provided a nice hiding spot from some people who were chasing me. Thanks for that. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get my possessions and—"

He no longer feels the weight in his pocket and panics. "Wait, I had—"

"You're looking for this?" The woman asks, pulling out a shiny piece of metal from behind her back. The Chancellor's husband's watch dangles from her fingers, the metal glinting in the candlelight.

"Hey - give that back—"

"No, I don't think I will." She says. "Not until you explain who you are. Are you a murderer?"

"I get no on a technicality."

"You a thief?"

"Uh—"

"Listen, I don't know what brought you to me. Call it Fate. Destiny."

"A bunch of idiots with war paint on their faces."

"But I think that you can help me."

Bellamy snorts. "I don't think you understand, Princess. I'm not in the business of helping people. So, give me back the watch."

"No."

"Listen, you better give that to me, because I'll get it one way or another - even if I have to cut off you hand."

"Please," she says. "I think we can reach an agreement."

"I'm not—"

"Every year," The woman continues, turning away from him, flipping some hair behind her shoulder. "There are these lights. Do you know of them?"

"How could I not know about them, they pollute the sky—"

"I would like to go to them. If you take me to them, and then bring be back safely to my tower, I will give you your watch."

"There's one flaw with that plan."

"What is that?"

"When you called it _my watch_. It's my property—"

"And I'll return it to you. Once we get back."

"Why in the world would I do that?" Bellamy cries.

"Because right now I've got you tied up. You can't get out. Did you know that hair is stronger then steel when at a certain radius?"

"Who in the world even knows that?"

"And all I'm asking is that, in return for the watch, you take me to see the lights. That's it."

"I really didn't want to have to do this," Bellamy sighs. "Because you seem like a nice girl, but not many people can handle themselves when I really turn it on."

"Turn what on?"

Bellamy knows he's attractive in that rugged sort of way that most people regret in the morning. The idea of a serious commitment isn't something he ever really entertained, because there were so many other things that were on his mind. His sister, survival... all that was ever on the table was a quick night and then nothing. So along with his earth skills, he'd gotten quite good at getting woman to come home with him - and if this sheltered princess is anything like them, it would be easier than most.

"Listen, I'm sure we can come to another arrangement." He says, taking all the aggression out of his voice. "I'm sure there's something else I could do—"

"I want to go see the lights." The woman states. "That's all I want."

"Come on—"

"No. The lights."

Bellamy drops his act, annoyed for many reasons. One, he's never had this not work. Two, the last thing he wants to do is drag a sheltered baby around. But, unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any other option. "Ugh, fine!" He exclaims. "Fine! Fine, fine, I'll do it, just let me out of this bizarre hair trap."

The woman beams. "Really? Yes, yes, yes, yes!" She cries. Jumping around, her hair waves around her, the light catching it in an ethereal way that takes his breath away. She walks up to him, tucking the watch in her pocket and placing her frying pan - is _that_ what she hit him with? - to the ground. "My name's Clarke."

"Bellamy," he drawls. "I'd shake your hand, but you see, I'm a bit tied up at the moment."

"Oh, right," she laughs - actually _laughs_ and it just pisses him off further - kneeling down and unwrapping his arms and legs.

As soon as he's free, Bellamy tries to save what little dignity he has by straightening up. A dark thought crosses his mind - he could easily overpower her. He could easily take the watch from her possession.

But...

She's run over to the window and leaned out, her face alight with a joy that makes something in his chest stir. She peers down at the ruins that are Polis and her eyes shine with a sheen of tears. 

He's been locked out, she's been locked in.

He deflates. Bellamy blames Octavia for his soft side.

"We heading out?" He asks brusquely, pushing past her. Pulling the dagger out of his back pocket, he starts to clamber down. "Let's get this over with."

His feet hit the ground and Bellamy peers up to see Clarke still at the frame of the window. There's something mystical about the way she stands at the window, the light in her hair. Her hands clutch the sides of the windows and she pauses.

He opens his mouth to yell at her, but he finds that he can't. 

Instead he remains silent, unable to fight the itch that says his life is about to begin.

***

Clarke's chest is pained. She looks out at the world - the world she looked at from her tower for so long. All of the threats of violence and horrors in the world play in her ears, her Mother's warnings all around her. Even the man that she found wandering around her tower clearly isn't a prince, but there's something soft about him that makes her want to trust him.

He's standing at the base of the tower, gazing up at her as she hesitates. She's genuinely surprised he isn't yelling at her to hurry up, but she has a feeling if she waits any longer, any kindness would be gone. Looping her hair around the hook Mother installed so she could help her up, Clarke sucks in a breath.

Sure, she wanted to be free. She wanted to see the lights, she wanted to feel the grass between her toes.

But.

It's scary.

It's scary and new and exciting and dangerous and thrilling.

Grabbing her hair, she steps up to the edge of the window. She stands before everything: the world, an adventure.

Jumping, she runs her hands down her hair as she scales the building. Her feet land on the earth with a resounding _thud_ and she settles next to Bellamy. He's giving her a look like she's completely bananas, but there feels like there’s something more. Wiggling her toes on the ground, Clarke looks around.

There are trees. And she hears birds. She feels the wind on her cheeks and her eyes sting. “Oh my god,” she breathes, turning around. “Oh my god.”

She runs around the ruins of Polis, picking up rocks and pieces of glass as she approaches them. “Oh my god!”

“Okay, I know you’re having a moment, but do you mind keeping it down a bit?” Bellamy asks, looking at the treeline. “I’ve got some friends looking for me.”

“Friends?” Clarke asks. “Then why don’t you want them to find you?”

Bellamy stares. “They’re – they’re not actually friends. Have you been living under a rock your entire life?”

“No, in a tower.”

For some reason, that’s what gets him to stop. He looks at her – really _looks at her_ – and then takes a breath. “My sister spent her entire life under the floor.” He says quietly. “I know how much it meant for her to get out of there. Come on, we gotta go if we’re going to make it by the time the lanterns are lit.”

Clarke finds it hard to move. There’s so much going on, it’s too overwhelming to put into words. She met her first person, she’s _outside._

Oh god.

She’s outside.

“Oh my god, my Mother’s going to _kill_ me!” Clarke exclaims. She whirls around and turns back to the tower. “If she ever finds out I disobeyed her—”

“Then just make sure she never finds out.”

“Right! Right, I just have to lie – oh my _god_ , I have to lie to my Mother.”

Bellamy groans. “She shouldn’t be forcing you to stay in a tower your entire life anyways. How old are you?”

“Eighteen. Today.”

“Well Happy Birthday. And weird move to kidnap a dude on your birthday, but whenever makes you feel festive. But you’re eighteen. You’re an adult. You can’t spend your entire life locked in a tower. What kind of life is that?”

“A safe life! There’s thugs and murderers and robbers and—”

“Shut up and take this.”

Bellamy shoves something in her hands and she startles. It’s a bit cake-like, with little pieces of seasoning on it. Clarke’s read about cake and baked goods, but she’s never had any. She fiddles with the edges of it, crumbs coming off in her hands. “What’s this?”

“It’s a chocolate muffin.” He states, lunging forward.

“Why did you give it to me?”

“I dunno – you’re freaking out and it’s your birthday. Whatever, it’s not a big deal, it’s just a muffin. And judging by the looks of you, you don’t get out enough to have a muffin.”

“I’ve never had one before.”

“See? New things? Jumped out a tower, ate a muffin, now we’re gonna see some lights. Crazy day.”

Clarke recoils a bit from the harshness in his voice, but continues to follow him as he trudges ahead. Picking off a piece, she places it in her mouth.

It’s like she sees starlight.

The sweetness hits her tongue and it’s unlike anything she’s ever had before. All Mother lets her eat is dried meat and nuts – because protein is good for hair health – but this is something she has never experienced. “Oh my god!” She cries, rushing up to him. “Oh my god!”

“I know,” Bellamy says, unable to hide the small smile on his face. “My friend Murphy makes them. He has to hide them from everyone because people will fight each other for them. He gave me one today, so it’s fresh.”

“And you gave it to me?” Clarke asks. “No, you have to—”

“It’s a gift, please stop.”

“No! You already are taking me to the lights, I can’t take this too!” Clarke rips off a piece because she’s not _that_ generous and gives it to Bellamy. “Here, you have to have some. Especially if your friend made it for you.”

Bellamy stares at it for a moment, and then sighs. “Fine. It really is amazing.”

The two of them slowly make their way through the forest, Bellamy moving like someone who grew up there. Clarke watches him walk so silently and deliberately, noting her own clumsy feet as she scrambles over branches and rocks.

“I really do want to thank you for doing this for me,” she says when the silence is too much.

“Appreciate it enough to just give me that watch and then we can call it a day?”

“You have to finish our agreement for me to truly appreciate it.”

“Gah, it was worth a shot.” Bellamy sighs. “Now, we’re gonna need some help getting into the city to see the lights. We need to make a pitstop.”

“Why?” She asks. “You’re a part of the city – you said that. Why wouldn’t they want you in?”

Bellamy freezes. He full on stops moving at her question. “Well, uh, it’s you.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Sure, they’ll let me in. But they won’t let you in. You were in Ice Nation Territory, so I assume you’re Ice Nation?”

“Uh—”

“They’re not going to just let some random Ice Nation stowaway in. I need to talk to some people to figure out how we’re gonna smuggle you in.”

Clarke supposes it makes sense, but she doesn’t understand his reaction. He continues to throw her bizarre looks that she can’t quite read as they move forward, but she decides it’s nothing more than a concern over their current predicament.

Clarke doesn’t know Bellamy that well, but despite all of his roughness, she can see a warm core at the center of who he is. Reaching out to him, Clarke grabs his forearm and smiles. “Thank you, Bellamy. I know this is a big risk for you.”

Bellamy stops, his gaze down at where she’s holding his arm. He merely stares at it for a while, finally raising his gaze to her. For a brief moment, she can see all his walls crumbling down and there’s nothing more than him and her. Something rattles inside her chest, but she decides it’s nothing more than the butterflies from being outside.

“Yeah, yeah,” he finally mutters, moving so her hand falls from him. Bellamy clears his throat. “Let’s just keep going.”

She smiles at him. “Yes, let’s just keep going.”

***

The two approach a small tavern, nothing more than a symbol of Arkadia painted in sloppy brushstrokes on the sign outside. Bellamy looks at Clarke beside him, her eyes wide at the dilapidated building and snorts. She won’t last a second in the wild.

That’s the issue though. He wants to just grab the watch and ditch her, but he’s certain she wouldn’t survive. Is it still murder if you didn’t physically kill someone, but you know your actions helped their death?

Bellamy assumes this is a grey area.

Pushing the door open of the pub, Bellamy ushers Clarke inside. He does his best to keep his eyes on the ground just in case there are any unfriendly Arkadia guards off duty, but when his eye catches a group of people in the corner of the room, he sighs in relief. Dragging Clarke toward the corner, Bellamy rushes up to the familiar faces.

“Guys,” he starts.

The reaction is instantaneous. “Bellamy, what the hell are you doing here?” Miller cries, setting down his drink. “You’re—”

“Supposed to be on duty soon, I know. I got sidetracked.”

Miller opens his mouth – probably to ask him what the fuck is wrong with him – and Bellamy widens his eyes in some vain hope to get him to shut his mouth. “This is Clarke,” Bellamy speaks over him. “She has been living in the abandoned tower in Polis and has requested to see the lights tonight.”

Murphy snorts in the corner. “Why? And why the hell would you agree?”

“I blackmailed him!” Clarke says cheerfully. She pulls out the watch from her pocket and Bellamy watches as all of his friends comedically widen their eyes. “And hit him over the head.”

Murphy takes a second. “Yeah, I like you.”

Raven, whose done nothing more than stare at him like he’s a complete idiot – which, honestly, what else is new – peers at Clarke. “There are people still living in Polis?”

“What’s Polis?”

“Another fun tip,” Bellamy says. “Clarke doesn’t get out much.”

“Like ever.” Clarke says, moving to sit on the booth where they all are huddled. Miller makes a face as she all but pushes him forward, but apparently along with not meeting anyone, she never learned any social cues. “Today’s my first day outside. Did you know that the trees smell amazing?”

“She’s like a baby deer learning how to walk.” Murphy offers, taking a drink of his beer.

“I’m… I’m gonna get us some drinks.” Bellamy sighs.

“Yeah, I’ll help you.” Miller says. “Sorry Clarke, I’m gonna hop right over you.”

Clarke makes a startled face as he stands up in the booth, leverages himself between the cushion and the table, and leaps over her. But for whatever he did to startle her, it’s gone in a second and she moves toward the group.

“Bellamy,” Miller says, rushing to his side.

“Stop, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Bellamy, you need to hear it because this is fucking nuts!” Miller cries, looking behind him. “You have a hostage from Ice Nation, are you insane? You were supposed to be keeping a low profile, not stealing captives of Grounders!”

“She’s not my hostage, need I remind you that she has the watch that I was going to use to barter my way back into Arkadia!”

“Have you ever thought that this is how you’re going to get killed, Bellamy?” Miller hisses. When the bartender approaches, Bellamy turns around so the man can’t see his face and Miller smiles. “Another round, plus two please.”

“Have I thought that I may get killed? Only every second since I was ousted from Arkadia!”

“Is it worth it? Because sure, you living by yourself in the woods sucks, but you’re alive!”

“Is it worth – Miller, they have my sister! My only family is in there!”

“Only family? Rude.”

“You know what I mean,” Bellamy sighs, running his hands down his face. “I owe it to her to make it back. I was all she had her entire life, and it was _my mistake_ that got her found out. I promised my mother I’d take care of her, and I can’t just break that promise. She’s my sister, my responsibility.”

“They shouldn’t have overreacted like they did! We’re on the Ground, we don’t need to conserve oxygen anymore.”

“Tell me about it!”

Miller sucks in a breath and purses his lips. “Okay. This is what we’re gonna do.”

“No.” Bellamy snaps. “No ‘we.’ You have already risked enough by stealing the Chancellor’s watch. If you get any further involved, it just increases your chance of being thrown in prison or executed. And I’m not going to let that happen!”

“Then what are you going to do? Need I remind you, you have a member of the Ice Nation with you! I mean, a really gentle, weirdly charming, and soft member – but a member nonetheless!”

“I’m going to stick to the plan! I’m going to show her the stupid lights that she’s so obsessed with, take her home, and then she’ll give me back the watch. Worst case, her parents or whatever find out she escaped and she’ll get punished from disobeying them. But I still get the watch and I still get to be let back into Arkadia.”

“That’s a dumb plan.”

“Well, it’s where I am.”

“Here you go, mate.”

“Thanks man.” Miller says to the bartender, grabbing a handful of cups while Bellamy takes the remaining. The two approach the booth to find the tension has completely lifted. Clarke is leaning toward everyone, her eyes alit with excitement.

“No!” She’s crying.

“Yes,” Monty states, nodding almost manically. “I can totally make you royal blue paints. It’s all about the concoction.”

“You see, we’re mixology experts.” Jasper states, wrapping his hand around Monty.

“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Miller drawls, setting the drinks down and jumping over Clarke again. She barely even registers it this time, moving out of the way quickly and returning back to the group.

“Have you guys ever jumped in the water?” She asks. “Is it weird? Do you feel like you’re flying?”

“I have some stuff that can make you feel like you’re flying.” Jasper says with a wink.

“Okay, no hallucinogens. How many times do I have to say, no hallucinogens?” Bellamy cries.

“You’re not here anymore, _Dad_.” Jasper laughs. “I can be as high as I want.”

“You don’t like them climbing trees?” Clarke asks.

There are snickers around the table and Bellamy wonders not for the first time how she hasn’t walked out the window of her tower because she saw a butterfly. “Yes, climbing trees is dangerous.”

“That’s silly, that’s something I want to do today if we have time.” Clarke says to Bellamy. “I can’t imagine not climbing trees when they’re all around you.”

Bellamy closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“So, Clarke,” Harper perks up at Monty’s side, her warm smile stretched. Clarke immediately relaxes at this, leaning closer to where Harper is. “Why do you want to see the lights so badly? I mean I’m all for messing with Bellamy, but couldn’t you just go see them yourself?”

Bellamy startles at the question, but admits to himself he’s mildly curious about the answer. He’s been so annoyed with the minor detour, he never really thought to ask why it was so important.

“Well,” Clarke says, noticing everyone is looking at her. She grabs a piece of her hair and twiddles with it between her fingers. “They happen every year on my birthday. I’ve been in that tower my entire life and I used to pretend when I was younger that they were lighting the lanterns for me. I mean, I know it’s silly. And don’t get me wrong, I know Mother loves me and she’s kept me in that tower for my own protection, but sometimes I wish…” Clarke looks down. “There’s such a big world out here. So many things to see. And I’ve been all by myself for so long. I just thought – maybe – if I saw them once in person, I would be okay with being in the tower for the rest of my life.”

“The rest of your life?” Harper asks. “You think she’ll keep you there forever?”

Clarke’s hands grip her hair. “She… has her reasons.” She says softly. “A-And I don’t want to sound ungrateful. She feeds me and clothes me and keeps me safe. And I’m grateful.”

No one says anything for a moment.

Of course, it’s Murphy breaks the silence.

“That’s fuckin’ dumb, bro.”

Everyone bursts out laughing, the tension that Clarke inadvertently built up easing. “Seriously, that is hella messed up.” Jasper says, shaking his head. “You can’t just lock someone up? What kind of life is that?”

“You say your birthday is every year on the day of the lights?” Raven asks, something glimmering behind her eyes that Bellamy has grown to know as her piecing something together. “That itr’s on your birthday?”

Clarke nods. “Yeah, why?”

Raven grabs her drink. “No reason.”

“Anyways, there’s a reason we’re here.” Bellamy states.

“Of course, why would we ever think you were coming to see us just for fun.” Murphy drawls.

“Well, I would need a reason to see _you_ , Murphy.” Raven snaps back.

“Whatever Reyes, you want this, admit it.”

“Yes, I want this to go away.”

“Can we refocus?” Bellamy asks, exasperated. “We need to get into Arkadia so we can see the lights. Both of us.” He widens his eyes on _‘both,’_ but Clarke doesn’t seem to notice.

The group finally settles down. “Uh, you know we love you man, but they have guards all the time.” Monty offers, wincing as he talks. “I’m really sorry, I don’t know what we can do.”

“What if we just ask your Chancellor?” Clarke asks. “Bellamy can get in and maybe they’ll just let me come in for a day.”

Bellamy closes his eyes. Maybe he shouldn’t have lied.

“What about the engineering tent?” Raven asks. “We normally don’t have a lot of guards because we deal with explosive materials. I could set something off on the other side of the camp and everyone will be focused there. I have some testing to do today anyways.”

“Uh, should you be drinking then?” Harper asks.

She shrugs and downs her drink.

“Ah yes, explosives and alcohol. The perfect concoction.” Jasper says dreamily.

“I will maim you, pipsqueak.”

“Hey! I was on your side!”

“So you can create a distraction?” Bellamy asks over them. “So we can come in through the engineering side.”

“Sure,” Raven shrugs. “Just don’t _touch_ anything.”

“Why in the world would I touch something in the engineering tent?”

“Because you can be a big idiot sometimes.”

Murphy snorts. When Bellamy glares at him, he puts his hands up. “What? It’s true.”

“I can find a flaw in that plan.” Miller states.

“Oof, buzzkill.”

“What about _her_?” Miller asks, gesturing at Clarke. She blinks and looks at Bellamy. When no one answers, he says, “Are we just not going to ask the obvious question?”

Clarke stares at him. “What’s the obvious question?”

“Have you seen your hair?”

Clarke blinks. Looking around where she’s pooled her hair on her lap and where it spills on the floor, she says, “I honestly never even thought about it.”

“How could you not think about it?”

“It’s just my hair.”

“No, this is ‘just hair.’” Miller states, grabbing Raven’s ponytail. She slaps him as he does so. “That is the makings of a house made of crocheted material.”

“Oh, that would be so cozy,” Jasper says, sighing.

“Dude,” Monty states, leaning into his friend. “Right?”

“Dude.”

_“Dude.”_

“Dudes, I’m gonna hit you.” Murphy states.

“Listen, I’m all for you seeing your dream and whatnot, but it’s dangerous. And you can’t go into Arkadia looking like that, I’m sorry.” Miller states. “You may as well have a sign that says ‘I don’t belong here.’”

Bellamy deflates. He supposes that Miller has a point. He wonders if she’d consider chopping it off, but considering it’s got a life of its own, Bellamy has a feeling the answer is no.

“I think I can help with that.”

Everyone turns to see Harper looking at Clarke, a smile curling on her face.

***

“Doesn’t it hurt your head?” Harper asks Clarke as she pulls one section over the other. She’s employed Monty and Jasper as well, citing their ‘nimble fingers,’ but they mainly just stand and hold large sections of Clarke’s hair. “I feel like it would give me big headaches. I’ve been thinking of chopping mine off and it only goes to my shoulders.”

“I don’t mind it.” Clarke says, staying as still as she possibly can as she feels Jasper step on one part and Monty yank another. “I mean, I genuinely didn’t think about it until I was outside.”

“Surely there’s gotta be an easier way to wear your hair.”

“I can’t cut it.” Clarke says absently. She realizes what she does and clears her throat. Mother always told her that if people found out what her hair could do, they would want to kidnap her. And while these people seem kind enough, she knows she can’t take the risk. “I mean, I just really like it long.”

“This seems like overkill.” Jasper groans as he hands another section to Harper.

Harper’s quick hands braid sections at a time. It takes a while, but soon, Clarke feels a strange absence on her back. Standing up from where’s she’s sitting, Clarke shakes her head. Turning around, she see’s a large portion of braided hair falling down her back. All the different braids intertwine with one another, the whispers of her hair close to the ground. Harper smiles at her, looking at the tables in the makeshift bar. The woman reaches out to where there’s a single flower in a steel cup on the table, and weaves it through her hair behind her ear. “There.” She says gently. “Perfect.”

Clarke finds herself smiling back at the woman, something warm in her chest.

The world is nothing like what Mother described. She said it was cold, dark, evil, and everyone would want something from her. Maybe pieces of that was true. But in this bar with all these strangers – and maybe one day she could call them friends – she feels something she’s never felt before: a part of something.

It was so much brighter than the charcoal drawings that she made on the walls of her tower. There were flowers and trees and birds and water and clouds, and that’s something she could never replicate with a thing of charcoal and infinite time.

Across the way, Bellamy is talking with Miller and Murphy, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed. He must feel her gaze on him because he looks over where they are. Clarke puts her hands out and she gives a twirl, the large mass of braided hair following her. His eyes widen and he looks startled – for a reason she doesn’t understand. It’s probably the candlelight, but it looks like a small amount of pink lights on his cheeks. He stares, his mouth slightly open for a moment. Then his gaze falls to the ground and he gives her a wordless thumbs up.

Clarke frowns. “Huh.” Is all she says because she’s trying not to show her disappointment.

Harper grabs her shoulders. “Don’t worry. That’s a better reaction than you think.” She says, squeezing. Clarke can’t help but feel relaxed with Harper, the woman beaming at her. Even Jasper and Monty make her feel more included than she’s ever been, accepting a drink that Monty hands her.

“Here’s to our new friend,” Monty says, lifting a glass. “You may have been in a tower your whole life, but you could’ve been so much weirder than you are.”

“You could be another me.” Jasper says, eyes wide.

“And no one wants that.” Harper chuckles.

“And because of that, we toast you.”

Clarke laughs, clinking her glass.

“There he is!”

Clarke startles when the doors of the pub swing open and a man stands at the entry way with a few others at his side. “You!” He shouts, point at Bellamy.

Clarke doesn’t recognize the man at all, but it’s clear that Bellamy does. His skin pales and he searches for where Clarke is with Jasper and Monty. Sprinting over to where she is, he grabs her arm. “Time to go!”

“Who is that?”

“Not my biggest fan.” He hisses.

Miller moves to the front where the man his, squaring up to his broad shoulders. “Who are you, mate?”

“Move aside.”

“Not until you tell me who you are. You’re on Arkadia land and you have the markings of Ice Nation. I think you need to think it through before you make demands in our bar.”

The man smirks at Miller, obviously amused. “You clearly do not know royalty when you see it. You’re speaking so casually with the Prince of Ice Nation.”

“Cool story. Still on Arkadia land.”

“We gotta go!” Bellamy snaps.

“What about Miller?” Clarke asks, starting concernedly where he’s standing up to whomever has barged in. “What if that man attacks him?”

“Then Murphy kills him. Happens all the time.”

“What—”

“Come on!”

Bellamy yanks her arm forward. She stumbles as he sees him running toward Raven, who is opening up a hatch. “Get in here, you idiots!” She cries.

Bellamy lets go of Clarke’s hand and leaps into the dark hole. She can’t see a single thing down there, let alone where the ground is. Sucking in her breath, she places a hand on the side of the ground to help herself. Before she can jump in, Raven grabs her. “Keep him alive, please.” She says.

Clarke doesn’t know Raven very well, but know desperation and ferocity when she sees it. She doesn’t say anything in return for a moment.

“Clarke, hurry up!” Bellamy shouts from below.

Nodding, Clarke leaps into the darkness.

***

“Fuck!’ Bellamy hisses to himself. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“What’s going on, Bellamy?” Clarke asks, running behind him. “Who was that? What is going on?”

“No time to explain!” Bellamy shouts. He hears a crash and then a loud _thud_ behind him. “Fuck!”

“Stop just saying fuck!”

“I can say fuck if I want to say fuck!”

“Of course you can, just use other words!”

Bellamy lets out a groan of frustration. “I didn’t know that was Roan, Prince of the Ice Nation. It’s bad enough I went on Ice Nation territory and let _you_ out,” Bellamy groans, gesturing wildly at Clarke. “But I also did it while trying to escape the crowned prince? I am a complete idiot!”

“But I’m not Ice Nation!”  
  


“Yes, you are!” Bellamy shouts, turning to her. “You are in a tower in Polis! Polis is Ice Nation territory after the treaties fell apart when someone stole my Chancellor’s only child! Ice Nation took over the capitol and let everything get into disarray. I didn’t even know anyone was still living there, but there you were, in a tower!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Clarke shouts, her eyes wide. He almost feels bad because her eyes are reddening and he can tell that all of this is over whelming. But he’s angry and freaked out and he never should’ve climbed that stupid tower in the first place. “I live in the tower with my mother, I don’t even know what Ice Nation is!”

“Then your mother is Ice Nation! And _you_ , by proxy, are Ice Nation!”

“I—”

“Get him!”

“Okay, we can’t talk about this now!” Bellamy snaps, turning around to sprint.

He takes off, peering only behind his shoulder to make sure Clarke is following him, the two of them speeding through the tunnels. They reach the edge where the other hatch is, Bellamy shoving it open and pulling himself out. He helps Clarke out, who has tucked her belongings under her arm.

He doesn’t know where they are.

Bellamy looks around in the forest, his eyes widening. It’s a part of the land her never explored, which means they are on Arkadia soil. Turning around, he tries to figure out which would be the best path to take, but he has no idea.

“Bellamy,” Clarke says, her voice wavering. “What are we doing?”

“I-I—”

There’s a some clanging next to them and he finds himself freezing.

He just wanted to see his sister again. That’s all he wanted. He didn’t mean to get dropped in the middle of an Ice Nation conflict, he didn’t mean to take a charming yet infuriating girl on a road trip. All he wanted was to see his sister, but with how the things are going, he’s never going to see anyone again.

“Bellamy!”

When he doesn’t move, she moves.

Bellamy startles to see Clarke rush over and grab a branch. Shoving it in the handle where the latch is, Clarke stands. “That should hold them off for a couple minutes. Come on!”

She reaches out and grabs his hand. Everything moves in slow motion in a way he doesn’t understand. Her hands wrap around his and he can’t help but stare at it.

She’s softer than he expected. It makes sense – she’s been stuck in a tower her entire life, but her skin almost feels like satin against his. She doesn’t flinch at the touch, she doesn’t flinch at the roaring noise coming below the hatch. Her eyes are alit with a fire that is almost too dazzling to look at.

She pulls him.

She pulls him so his feet go one in front of the other. She pulls him and he finds his body reacting, being snapped out of the fear.

She brings him back.

Bellamy sprints toward her side, their hands untwining. He looks behind to see that the Ice Nation has managed to get out of Clarke’s quick thinking, the two of them hurdling to a vast woods.

They approach a cliff, water pouring down. Bellamy stops, looking over the side. The mist from the waterfall makes it so he can’t see anything at the bottom. Shouts grow louder as they stand there, looking at the waterfall.

An arrow shoots past them.

Bellamy wraps his arms around Clarke and pulls her down, the arrow shooting past into the distance. Bellamy looks at the waterfall, and back at the trees.

“No,” Clarke says, shaking her head. “That’s insane.”

“It’s either get impaled by an arrow or that.” Bellamy says. “At least this way, there’s a small chance we can survive.”

“Bellamy, I don’t think—”

Before she can finish the sentence, he grabs her hand this time. It stops her from saying anything else, her eyes wide and terrified. He wants to tell her it’ll be okay, but he doesn’t know. He isn’t sure if it will be. In fact, he’s almost convinced it won’t be. But she stops her protests and he sees something else.

Trust.

Bellamy isn’t sure if he deserves it, but he wants to.

Turning back toward the waterfall, he takes a breath.

They jump.

***

There are a few things going through Clarke’s head as she hits the water. One, maybe her mother was right. Going out into the world is completely insane. Two, this is the most alive she’s ever felt in her life. And three: where did Bellamy go?

She drew comfort of his hand on hers, but the moment they hit the water, it was gone. Torn apart. She feels herself flipping around the water, being dragged by the current, pulled and pushed in different ways. Clarke has never even been submerged in water like this before.

Breaking free of the surface, she grabs a rock to try and steady herself. “Bellamy!” She cries, choking at water splashes against her face. “Bellamy!”

No response.

All she can hear are the waves and the sound of an unforgiving river.

Looking into the water, Clarke knows. She _knows_

She also knows she can’t see. Closing her eyes, she sings. She sings, her hair lighting up as she does so, tendrils of bright light cascading from her roots. Once she finishes the song, Clarke sucks in a breath. Diving down into the water, she looks around.

Her hair can only show her so much, the current trying to force her around. As she whips around, a small amount of movement hits her. It’s difficult, but she fights against the current, the light from her hair showering upon a struggling Bellamy. Small puffs of red circle around him from somewhere on his leg, where a rock is sitting atop his ankle. He’s trying to push it off, his gestures getting weaker and weaker as time passes.

Swimming toward him, Clarke puts two hands on the rock and helps him shove. At first, he jerks away from her when she approaches. Then, his eyes widen at her hair. She can see him panicking, so she gestures wildly at the rock. It seems to knock some sense in him, the tow of them pushing as hard as they can.

It takes a few tries, but the boulder shifts, Bellamy moving his leg from underneath it. Clarke reaches out and grabs his hand, pulling him further up. She can see his eyes drooping.

So she does the first thing that comes to mind.

Grabbing the sides of his face, Clarke presses her lips onto his. He startles at the touch, holding onto her as she tries to pull the two of them upward.

Breaking the surface, Clarke drags Bellamy toward the river bank, the two of them heaving. For a while, all the two do is breath, their chests heaving as they lay against the side of the river. Bellamy chokes, his hand covering his eyes.

“Was I hallucinating, or did your hair glow?”

Clarke closes her eyes and sighs.

***

Bellamy limps to where Clarke’s making a fire.

He’s explaining how she should do things, but she’s a quick study. In fact, after a while, he stops giving instructions because she seems to be fine on her own.

Which is good, because it gives him an opportunity to figure out what just happened.

Her hair glowed. It _glowed_.

And she kissed him.

He isn’t sure which of the two pieces of information is more astounding at the moment.

He gives the edge to the hair because technically, she was trying to save his life with the kiss, but her hair _glowed_.

And all she’s doing now is making a fire and pretending like he didn’t just see the fact that she has mutant hair.

Hoisting himself against a tree so he can stretch out his injured leg, Bellamy watches her. The braids Harper had put together were relatively in tact, the hem of her dress ripped and wet. She works tirelessly, not making any eye contact as she prepares a fire for them to dry off. He decides he’ll let her come to him, even though the curiosity is eating away at him.

When the fire is lit and she can’t find any other excuses not to look at him, Clarke turns to where he’s staring at her. Her eyes are guilty and she looks at his leg, which is sticky with blood and bruises are already forming.

With a quick intake of breath, Clarke places herself close to where he is and sits at his foot. “Um, so.” She starts, closing her eyes. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, but I think it’d be best if I just showed you.”

Before Bellamy can ask her what she’s doing, Clarke pulls a piece of her hair out of the braid and wraps it around his ankle. He wants to ask her what the hell she’s doing, but she seems so confident and he wants answers, that he simply lets her proceed. Once his injury is completely covered by hair, she starts to sing.

_Sing._

Bellamy presses himself further against the tree as her hair starts to light up. It begins at her roots and coils throughout her braids, finally reaching the area that surrounds his leg. She continues to sing, the song soft and melodic, her hair bursting with light. Once she delivers the final, quivering note, her hair starts to fade into gold.

Unwrapping his ankle, Clarke sits back on her leg and winces, as if waiting for a reaction.

Bellamy looks down, his ankle nothing more than clean skin. He gapes, running his hands down where there was a gash only moments before. “What—”

“I’ve always been able to do it.” Clarke says, not making eye contact. “Mother says I’ve always had this gift. That’s why I can’t cut my hair.” Pulling back her hair, Clarke reveals a small patch of brown, short and cropped at the side. “She says someone tried to steal my hair once by cutting it. But when it’s cut, it loses all its powers and turns brown. It can’t grow anymore. She I stay in the tower, so people won’t try and use my hair – or me – for bad.”

Bellamy is trying to process a lot of information, but can’t stop looking at his ankle. He could’ve died – he wasn’t even sure how he was going to get them to the lights tonight – and now he feels like he did this morning. “So,” he starts, trying to find the words of what he wants to say. “Is that why your Mother locks you away.”

“She doesn’t… lock me away.” Clarke says, but Bellamy can tell she doesn’t entirely believe what she’s saying. “She just… wants to protect me.”

“From what, though?”

“The world.” Clarke says, her eyes going to the ground. “If my hair got in the wrong hands—”

“But what are you doing with it now?” Bellamy asks. “What amazing things are you doing with it that she feels the need to lock you away?”

“I—”

“Because it seems to me, that locking you away makes it so she is the only one who benefits from that gift. Doesn’t that seem selfish to you?”

“She’s my mother.” Clarke snaps. “She’s given me everything. She feeds me and houses me and—”

“Guilts you into thinking that anything you do outside sitting in that room is wrong. God, Clarke! There’s a big world out here! It’s more than a tiny room – hell, it’s more than seeing these lights! You met Monty and Jasper, Miller and Murphy and Harper. You met all these people, and sure, there are some assholes, but wouldn’t you rather be surrounded by trees and sky?”

“What do you want me to do, Bellamy?” Clarke asks, her eyes watering. “Just stay out here? Pretend that Mother doesn’t exist and spit in the face of everything she’s done for me?”

“What has she done for you, Clarke? She’s locked you away from the world and held you in a tower!”

“I can leave whenever I want?”

“Then how come you didn’t until you had me?”

Clarke doesn’t say anything right away. Bellamy can’t stop staring at her, the way she starts to crumble. He feels bad, making something so beautiful fall, but he can’t help but be angry. He’s _furious._ He knows she can’t see it.

This is what the Ark did to him.

Made him believe he was only worth what they could get out of him. Made him feel ungrateful for ‘going against everything they gave him.’ But what truly did they give him? A lifetime without parents, separated from his sister, and running from everything. That’s not something he’s grateful for. He’s not grateful for the pain they inflicted on him.

“Listen,” he starts, his words quieter. Soft. “I don’t mean to upset you. But I just need you to understand that there is so much more than what she offered you. She gave you a world where everything you do is under her. And there’s a freedom you haven’t experienced that I think you need to. And more than just this one day.”

Clarke doesn’t respond right away. She looks down at the strand of hair she pulled out from the braids. It’s in her hand, curling around itself. Looking up to where he is, she says, “I’ll think about it.”

Bellamy supposes that’s the best he’ll get in this conversation.

The rest of the evening is quiet. The sun sets over the hills as they make their way closer to the heart of Arkadia, the sky lighting up with purples and pinks. He finds himself wanting to walk slower.

He didn’t know at the start of the day, he wouldn’t want it to end. But now that he walks in a companionable silence with Clarke, he doesn’t want to see the lights, simply because he knows it’ll be over. After everything, this will be done.

The two haven’t said much since their conversation by the fire, but he finds that he doesn’t need to talk to Clarke to feel comfortable with her. It’s odd, not needing to say anything. But it’s comfortable and trusting, as if the two have been close in different worlds and lifetimes.

Bellamy leads Clarke through the back way of the gates of Arkadia. Whatever Raven did must’ve worked because there were no guards by the Engineering entrance. People are bustling about and the two of them are as lost in the crowd as anyone else. Bellamy can see Miller across the way, sporting a black eye. He winces when Miller catches his gaze, giving him a look that clearly states ‘you owe me one.’

He does. More than he can express.

Leading Clarke through the camp of his past home is a bit painful, but also magical. Her eyes light up as they cross the way, people calling out, in good spirits as they mill about. Bellamy manages to get a few pastries while people are too distracted with the festivities to notice him. He hands her one, Clarke’s eyes lighting up as she takes it. Her smile is so broad and excited, he can’t help but feel a little festive himself.

Eyeing a small flag in the corner of the city, Bellamy goes over and offers a small token for it. It has the logo of Arkadia on it in the middle of a blue flag. Offering it to Clarke, he smiles. “To remember this day by.”

Clarke takes it in her hands, eyes drifting up to him. “I’ll never forget this day.”

Bellamy finds heat rushing to his face, to the point where he has to look away. She seems so earnest, that he feels like she’s waiting for him to say something else, but he can’t find the words to say.

This was not how this day was supposed to go. He was supposed to meet Murphy and Miller, get the watch, bargain to get back into Arkadia, and be with his sister. There was nothing about this day that went according to plan.

Now, he’s standing in front of someone he just met this morning and is wondering if there is a different future for him. A different future from simply sprinting from one disaster to the next. He’s never been one to think that there could be more to life, but right now, he’s thinking there could be more.

Then someone shouts at him.

“You!”

“Oh my god,” Bellamy groans, turning around to face the same Ice Nation warrior who has been plaguing him all day. Now, he’s just pissed off.

Except the man looks different. He no longer has the white paint of Ice Nation on his face, or any of his stooges. Instead, he’s wearing a small Arkadia flag in the world’s worst disguise ever. The man runs over and grabs Bellamy by the collar and throws him up against the wall. “You and I have unfinished business.” He growls.

“Did you get your dialogue from bad movies?” Bellamy groans.

“Enough!” The man shouts.

Bellamy considers his options as quickly as he can. He can fight the angry Ice Nation man, get caught, and get executed. He could not fight the angry Ice Nation man, and then get killed.

Great options.

“Excuse me?”

The two of them stop whatever growling is happening to see Clarke standing next to them, tapping the Ice Nation warrior on his shoulder. “Hi, my name is Clarke.”

Bellamy isn’t sure who is more confused, the man or himself.

“I don’t care.”

“No, actually this is the part where you’re supposed to say your name.” Clarke says cheerfully. “Now, I don’t want to interrupt whatever’s happening, but here’s the thing. You know what day it is?”

“…no.”

“It’s my _birthday_. And I won’t get into the whole story, but I have not had a day like this ever. You see, I have wanted to see the lights since… well… _forever_. And Bellamy has been helping me and we’re so close! And I would really appreciate it, if you could find it in your heart, if you considered killing him another day?”

The man is startled enough to drop him. “I’m sorry?”

“You know, tomorrow? Have at it. Chase each other across the plains. But I just… please?”

Clarke walks up to the man and places a hand on his forearm. “Please. I really would be grateful.”

“What? Why—” The man stares at her.

Slowly, Bellamy’s feels his grip lessen until he no longer is in his grip. “This is ridiculous.” The man groans.

“Thank you!” Clarke exclaims, squeezing his arm. “You have no idea how much I appreciate that!”

“I hate myself.” The man mutters.

“Cool, I hate you too.” Bellamy snaps.

He gets a glare in return.

Clarke leaps in the middle of the two. “Well, I don’t hate either of you, so we don’t have that in common. But maybe we can get a name?”

The man glowers at her. But again, melts. Bellamy has a sneaking suspicion he’s not as intimidating as he tries to be, having easily given into Clarke. Then he catches her eye and she smiles at him. He sighs. Maybe it’s a Clarke thing.

“Roan.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Roan!” Clarke says. “Let’s get something to eat! Have you ever had a muffin? If you haven’t, it’s going to change your life.”

Somehow, Clarke is able to drag Roan and Bellamy toward the food stands, the two of them a good foot apart. Clarke is flitting from one stand to the next, people not as suspicious as they would be on any other day. Usually when a strange woman marches up to people, there are about fifteen guns pointed at her. Apparently people are less concerned today.

“I see you’re easily swayed by a small blonde.” Bellamy smirks to Roan. Just because they’re not fighting anymore, doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to punch him or poke fun.

“You’ve been leading her around all day, so I would really look into a mirror before you use that as an insult.” Roan drawls.

Bellamy hates that he has a point.

“What’s your deal with me anyway?” Bellamy asks. “I didn’t know you before today.”

“Well, nothing originally. Then you truly pissed me off.” Roan snaps. “I’ve been trying to buy passage back into Ice Nation territory and the bounty on your head was enough to put me over what I needed.”

“Why would you need to buy yourself passage into your own land? You said you were the prince back in the pub.”

“I am,” Roan says. “And I’ve been exiled from my own land.”

Bellamy startles. “I’m sorry? What are you talking about?”

“It happened a few years ago. I’m reaching the age where I would take over the throne. But my grandmother has had her claws on it for years. Keeps on finding loopholes and other things. But as the first male heir, she was finding it hard to find loopholes. Then one night, there was a scouring of my room and they found illegal artifacts.”

“Got a stamp collection do we?”

“More like plans to have an allegiance with your people.” He snaps. “I was ousted and she convinced the council to extend her power.”

“So, you thought if you got me, you’d show your hatred for Arkadia and they’d let you in?”

“More or less.”

“That’s a dumb fucking plan.”

“Watch it. I’d hate to murder you in front of your friend.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s your grandmother, isn’t it? Why don’t you just wait for her to die?”

“Lovely sentiment about my family, thank you.”

“Come on, it doesn’t sound like you guys are the best of friends.” Bellamy says. “Don’t try and make me look like a dick.”

“No, you do that all by yourself.” When Bellamy gives him a pointed look, Roan sighs. “That’s the thing. Is that she should be getting weaker, but I know it sounds crazy, but she doesn’t age. I swear to god, she’s just as spry as she was when I was little. It’s actually infuriating. I’m convinced she’ll outlive us all.”

“God, that’s a nightmare. I can’t imagine our leaders being immortal.”

“Here!” Clarke runs up and shoves a muffin in Roan’s hand and one in Bellamy says. “Murphy wanted me to pass along a message.”

Bellamy blinks. “Yeah?”

“He says go fuck yourself.”

“Ah, such love.”

“I think I would get along with this Murphy.” Roan says, taking a bite out of the muffin. “Actually, I think I might kidnap and force him to make these for me.”

“I think he would do it for you if you paid him.”

“Nah. I like kidnapping.”

“Alright.”

The three make their way through the city, Clarke chatting with Roan as much as she can get out of him. He doesn’t seem particulartly interested in the two of them, but the fact that he hasn’t stabbed either of them is a plus in Bellamy’s book.

“It’s time,” Bellamy says, looking above when the lights start to dim and flicker. “I think this is where we part.”

“Until we meet again in the forest,” Roan smiles, offering his hand. “I look forward to finally besting you.”

“We’ll see of that happens.” Bellamy says, taking his hand. “May we meet again.”

“To your detriment.”

“In your dreams.”

Clarke stares at the two of them holding hands and glaring at each other, but Bellamy can’t feel foolish. He truly enjoys this rivalry.

Roan lets go and turns to walk away, smirking at the two of them. “To whatever the night leads to.” He says, lifting his hand as if raising a glass.” I wish you more luck that I’ve had in two months.”

Bellamy gives him an unimpressed look.

Marching away, Roan is lost in the crowd, covered in nothing more than then the chatter of the festival and the bodies of his own people. Bellamy feels a tension he’s tried to ignore since the waterfall, left alone with Clarke and nothing more than their thoughts.

“So,” he says, licking his lips. “I think it’s time we get our boat. I know the perfect place to see the lights. And I think after waiting this long, you deserve the best view, Princess.”

She beams at him.

It makes him question everything. Even when they go to the side of the lake where Miller has left a small boat, he can feel his heart hammering in his chest.

Clarke is practically vibrating with excitement next to him, unable to help at all with any of the preparations. Bellamy can’t find himself to be annoyed, Clarke all but wading into the water as he pushes the boat off of the shore. She leaps into it, water dripping off her dress as she does so. She runs to the edge, making the boar wobble, but Bellamy doesn’t stop her. He merely watches, trying to remember the last time he’d felt that kind of joy.

The evening settles into a quiet.

The two of them get further onto the lake, the sight of Arkadia in the distance.

Clarke settles, her hands in her lap. She grows quiet, her fervor filtering out. “Everything okay?” Bellaym asks.

Clarke doesn’t respond right away. Instead, she wrings her hands in her lap. “Bellamy?” She asks, looking at the horizon where the lights are supposed to rise shortly. “What if it’s not what I expected?”

“What do you mean?”

Clarke can’t look at him. “I have been staring out the window of the tower ever day since I can remember. I’ve just been in that room, watching everything happen without me. Everyone is out there, and I was in my tower. What if it isn’t what I thought it’d be? What if it isn’t as magical as I think it is?”

Bellamy think about this for a second. He can think of a bunch of different reactions, but he ponders the question for a second longer than he thinks she expects. “What if it is?”

Clarke finally looks at him. Her eyes are watering and the world is getting dark.

“What if these lights are everything you’ve been waiting for? What if this day was everything you were hoping for? What if the world is as exciting as you wanted it to be?” Bellamy leans closer. “You may have to think about staying.”

“Bellamy, I can’t—” Clarke says, scrunching her face up. “I—”

Before she can list the many poor reasons why she can’t stay outside the tower, the first light begins to raise into the sky.

It’s slow. Gentle. It seems so out of place for the world. It floats up to the heavens and Clarke’s attention is stolen away.

Soon they all raise up in the sky, lifting one after another. The entire sky dots with these lights, creating a blanket of light in the sky. They shine above everything else, even causing something in Bellamy’s chest to shift.

He used to hate this.

It was so hypocritical. To mourn the loss of a daughter when they kill their own for even the slightest step out of line. But as he sits on the end of the boat, watching Clarke’s eyes light up as they move through the sky, he finally gets it.

The sky is new.

Except, the most dazzling thing in the sky isn’t the lights.

It’s _her._

She grips the side of the boat, her fingers turning white as she holds it. He wonders if it hurts, but the lights are shining in her eyes in a way that makes her dazzling and radiant.

He looks in his pack for the small package he found, unraveling it. “Ready Princess?”

Clarke turns around and he lights the candle in the center, the lantern filling. “It’s only fair we get to contribute.”

Clarke’s face lights up as she rushes over to him, sitting across from him in the boat. “Where did you get that?”

“I figured you need the full experience. It’s not every day you get out of the tower.”

Clarke’s face stretches in a smile so wide it looks like it hurts. She reaches so she’s holding the opposite side of the lantern, the light flicking her off her face. “Listen, Clarke.” Bellamy says, swallowing so he doesn’t lose whatever courage he’s feeling in this moment. “You can stay up in that tower if you want. You could stay. But think of today. And sure, it won’t all be like today. But you deserve more than that tower. You deserve to see what the world will give you. And I don’t know if I’m the one who can give it to you, but I know you deserve it.”

“Bellamy, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” He rubs the back of his head. “Don’t go back. Come away with me. I know that we got off to a rough start, but we could figure everything out. You are more than whatever you mom thinks you are. Please, Clarke.”

Clarke reaches out to where his hand is on the lantern and covers it with hers. “I’m beginning to think there’s more to life than simply drawing on the wall.”

“Thank god, I thought you were an idiot.”

“Only one of us can be that in this duo.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes. But the way the lights are flickering in the sky, Bellamy feels brave. He places his hand on her cheek pulling her in. “That’s me, Bellamy Idiotic Blake.”

“No one’s arguing here.”

He goes to argue, but suddenly his lips are very busy.

***

_“Wait right here.”_

He said that a while ago.

All the lights have since flickered out and Clarke is on the shore of the lake, clutching her arms across her chest to keep warm.

He likes her.

He _likes_ her, likes her.

Clarke has read romantic stories, but with the way her Mother spoke about the world, she assumed they were fiction. But there were butterflies in her chest – something she never felt before. Tucking her loose hair behind her ears, Clarke waits on the side of the lake.

Should she?

She waited all her life for her life to start, but finally it feels like it is. She watched the lights she’s been waiting for, but all she can remember is Bellamy’s face. The way the light shimmered off of it. She can’t remember seeing someone so beautiful.

“Clarke!”

Clarke freezes. It’s as if someone poured ice down her back. She knows that voice.

_Mother_.

“Clarke, where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you, I feared the worst.”

Before Clarke can do anything, the woman is right in front of her, her hands on Clarke’s hair. The woman runs her fingers across the braids, pulling strands out. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, Mother, I’m fine.” Clarke says, pulling her hands off. “I left, I wasn’t taken.”

Mother’s hands stop. “You… _left?_ ”

Clarke looks at the lake, which was just illuminated with floating stars. “I-I didn’t mean to go against you, but I just desperately wanted to see the lanterns and—”

“We’ll talk about this and your punishment when you get home. I’m glad you got… whatever this is out of your system. Let’s go.”

“No!”

Clarke startles even herself. She almost wants to take it back when she says it, recoiling when the woman turns to face her. “No?” She repeats venomously.

“Uh, I mean.., the world isn’t what you said it was. Sure, it’s scary, but people aren’t evil. They’re kind and warm and they help each other. And I was thinking—”

“What’s his name?”

Clarke stops. Her eyes widen. “I’m sorry.”

“The boy you’ve been chasing as you run free across the earth.”

Clarke stops. “Wait. Have you been… following me?”

“You can’t blame me, Clarke. I thought you were kidnapped. And imagine my surprise when I see you fawning over your captor! My dear, have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?”

“Bellamy didn’t kidnap me! I made him take me!”

“Oh,” Mother says, her eyebrow lifting. “Aren’t we going through a rebellious phase.”

Clarke feels something she hasn’t felt in a long time: anger.

Anger of every snide remark, every time she wouldn’t let her outside. “He wants me to stay with him and I’m going to. You can’t stop me.”

“Oh, your life with the criminal, every mother’s dream.” Mother says. “But are you sure he’s being honest to you?”

“What?”

“Say, have you checked the whereabouts of the watch you blackmailed him with?”

Clarke stills. “W-What?”

“He is a criminal, Clarke. Ousted by his own people. He _betrayed_ his own people. What makes you think he would have any loyalty to you?”

Clarke is afraid to check her pockets. “No. No, Bellamy wouldn’t do that, Bellamy—”

“—is a traitor.” Mother reaches in her pocket and pulls out an image. It says _“WANTED”_ with a poor rendering of Bellamy’s face on it, outlining one horrible deed after the next. “He betrayed his own people, Clarke. Why do you think you’d be any different. Why would anyone risk anything for you?”

Clarke’s eyes water. Her hands hang limply at her sides, her fingers brushing against the sides of her dress. Slowly putting her hand in her pocket, Clarke finds nothing but cloth.

No watch.

“Clarke,” Mother’s tone changes, lifting her hands out. “I’m so sorry. I don’t want to be cruel, but you need to understand the world. And understand why I wanted to shield you from it. You are too soft. He was never going to love you. He only wanted what he could get from you.”

Clarke doesn’t go into Mother’s arms. Her hands curl around the folds of her dress, tears in her eyes.

They don’t fall, though.

They can’t fall if she can’t feel.

***

“I hate you.”

Bellamy wakes up to a curse and a splitting headache. He isn’t quite sure where he is or what’s going on – actually, he’s not sure what happened last night. At one point he was trying to get the boat back on the dock and next he finds himself here.

“Did you hear me? I _hate_ you.”

Bellamy lifts his head, blinking the sun out of his eyes. He reaches his hands in front of him and sees shackles clasped around his wrists.

“Goddammit, listen to me!”

Something strikes him in the head and it makes the world spin. That’s when Bellamy realizes he isn’t alone.

Roan sits across from him, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “Great, you’re up. I hate you.”

“Yes, you’ve said that.” Bellamy groans, finally sitting upright. “Where are we?”

“Look around, use your powers of deduction. See if that body is more useful than just bringing your head around.”

Bellamy really would love it if he stopped talking, but he can’t imagine that happening.

Except, Roan’s right. He’s seen this place before. Ah hell.

He’s _been_ here before.

“Oh, fuck.” Bellamy breathes.

“Oh fuck indeed.” Roan says, knocking his head against the wall. “We’re in Arkadia.”

“Yes, turns out you and I were not supposed to be at the fun little bonfire last night. And your Chancellor is not a fan of me.” Roan shakes his hair. “Something of which I positively cannot understand.”

“I can.” Bellamy mutters. “I don’t understand, how did I get caught? It was all planned?”

“I dunno, I was waiting for you outside the lake when I was swarmed. I think someone tipped off the guards that I was there. I overheard them talking. And about you.”

“Who even knew I was in Arkadia?” Bellamy snaps.

“Uh, how about the idiots you were at the pub with?”

“No,” Bellamy says, shaking his head. “No, they wouldn’t say anything. They would never turn me in.”

“Well, it looks like they did, because here we are.”

“They wouldn’t! And they wouldn’t turn you and me in – they would turn you in, but they didn’t even know you were in Arkadia. The only people who knew were me and – shit!” Bellamy says, grabbing his head. “Clarke! Where is she? Is she here?”

“Not that I know of.” Roan says.

“She was waiting for me at the shore – she must think I just left her there. What if she’s in trouble?”

“News flash! _We’re_ in trouble! Can you focus, please?”

“Can you stop being so self-obsessed for two seconds?”

“Absolutely not, the world revolves around me.”

“I cannot believe I’m stuck here with you.” Bellamy groans. “The only other option would be Clarke’s mom, if she ever found out. That woman has been manipulating her to keep her in that tower. If she found out Clarke was gone, she would’ve wanted me out of the way.”

“What does that have to do with me? The only person who wants me dead – outside of all of you, your loss, by the way – is my grandmother, but she didn’t know where I was.”

His grandmother.

Bellamy freezes.

He doesn’t know why it took him so long. It’s like a light has turned on in his brain. He’s almost embarrassed how long to took him to figure it out. It’s so obvious.

“It was her.” Bellamy states.

Roan makes a face. “I’m sorry?”

“It _was_ your grandmother.” Bellamy says. “Your grandmother is Clarke’s ‘mother.’”

“Okay, you have a concussion. We’re done talking now.”

“No, listen to me!” Bellamy shouts. “You’re the one who said your grandmother isn’t aging and has been holding onto power. Clarke has a secret – her hair has magical properties. She _healed_ me with it. That’s why she can’t cut it off. And her Mother kept her in the tower – because of her _hair_. She says it’s to keep her safe, but I think it’s to keep her hair safe! Clarke is the lost daughter of our Chancellor. Your grandmother stole her to keep her young! Don’t you see? It’s all combined.”

Roan doesn’t respond right away. To his credit, he seems to be ponder this. Then he shifts, leaning toward him. “Alright, let’s say what you’re saying is true. Let’s say my grandmother has been holding Clarke hostage her entire life and was the one who got the two of us thrown in jail. What are we going to do with this particular predicament we find ourselves in?”

Bellamy opens his mouth. Then closes it.

He tries to think of something – anything – to get him out of the jail. Nothing comes to him, as he looks at his shackles to his unfortunate companion.

“We can’t lose Clarke, Roan.” He says. “We _can’t._ ”

Roan makes a face, all but grimacing. He bares his teeth a few times, as if he’s struggling within himself for something. “Aw hell, okay.” He leans forward. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Dude!”

The two look up to see Miller sprinting toward him. “What the hell? What were you thinking?” He hisses. “I thought you were going to leave!”

“I have no idea what happened!” Bellamy snaps. “I just woke up here!”

“Dude, they’re charging you with treason!”

“What? Why?”

“Working with the enemy.” Miller says, nodding at Roan. “You two are meant to be executed – today.”

Bellamy chills, looking at Roan. The man doesn’t give anything away, his expression stony. “Miller, listen to me. I know this is going to sounds crazy, but there’s something bigger going on.”

“Bigger than you being executed!”

“Just listen to me! Please, I need your help.”

Miller makes a face. “Heard that before.”

“Miller!”

“Whatever – _fine_. I’m about to be strung up with you anyway, may as well go down fighting.”

***

“There, your beautiful hair is out of that nasty braid. I’ve always liked it down anyways.”

Clarke sits on her bed, numb. She’s allowed Mother to pull her hair, sing to herself, and watch it glow. Reaching into her other pocket, Clarke finds the flag that Belllamy gave to her. She places it under her pillow, in case Mother finds it. She’s not ready for the last part of this day to go into the fire.

That’s where Harper’s flower went, anyway.

“This is what I was trying to protect you from!” Mother is saying, milling about. “Humans are so horrible to one another, I merely was trying to save you from this pain. I will start some dinner and we can discuss your punishment after we get rid of this nasty day.”

Clarke brushes the folds of her dress, a single tear falling down her cheek.

She was so close. She saw a future, she saw a life. With Bellamy – with everyone.

Now?

She has her tower.

Her mother.

Her hair.

She runs her fingers through her hair. The gold shimmers in the candlelight.

She’s never loathed it more.

Bellamy saw past her hair. He saw past everything that Mother said made her worth anything. He saw _her._

And he left.

Maybe Mother was right. Maybe she wasn’t worth anything.

Reaching under her pillow, she pulls out the blue flag and traces the lines of the Arkadia symbol. It’s beautiful. A Celtic triangle with stars encircling them. All the stars, just like the lights.

She lifts her gaze to the walls, noticing the knots everywhere. The stars and the lines are everywhere, ensnared in all her drawings.

Circles of stars.

Just like the lanterns.

Just like…

“I’m the lost daughter of the Chancellor.” Clarke says, her eyes wide.

“Now, I think it would be good to take away the books you love so much, maybe even the charcoal. I think it would be a good punishment. Actually I’ve indulged your silly hobbies too long, I think it’s time to scrub the drawings off the walls—”

“I’m the lost daughter!” Clarke shouts at her.

She stands a few feet away, seeing the tower in a whole new way.

A prison.

“I’m sorry?” Mother asks, turning around. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m the lost daughter! You stole me from Arkadia!”

The expression that flits across Mother’s face is quick, but Clarke sees it. “Don’t be ridiculous, Clarke. It seems you got too much sun—”

“No!” She shouts. “I have let you manipulate me my entire life. You don’t love me! You just want me here because of my hair! Bellamy was right about you!”

The woman’s whole visage changes. “Bellamy? The criminal you flitted around with?”

“I don’t think he left me. I _never_ should’ve listened to you. About anything! People are good and the world is exciting! And you’re a thief!”

“Too bad he’ll be dead by the time you get to him.” Mother states, looming closer.

“What?”

“His people don’t look kindly on traitors.”

“Bellamy is _not_ a traitor.”

“That may be.” She says, reaching under the table and coming up with some chains. “It doesn’t matter if he is. Just matters what they think.”

Clarke eyes the chains.

Mother approaches.

***

“This is what happens when Bellamy’s in charge!”

“Shut up, Murphy!” Bellamy and Harper shout as the group of them sprint through the woods.

“I’m inclined to agree.” Roan grumbles at his side.

A corral of Arkadian soldiers are chasing after them, gunfire following them as they run. “How did we get dragged into this! I was sleeping!”

“Shut up and run, Murphy!” Miller snaps.

“I can multitask!”

The group of them sprint through the woods, leaping over fallen branches as they move further. “But seriously, what’s the plan?” Miller hisses. “Because being shot wasn’t on my to-do list today.”

“Shockingly, not mine either.”

“That _is_ shocking,” Murphy shouts. “Seeing as all your actions makes it seem like it’s the top of your list!”

“Permission to knock him unconscious?” Harper calls.

“If we didn’t have to carry him, I would approve!” Bellamy offers back. “We need to get to Polis and get to Clarke. Once we show them that we have the missing daughter, everything should be fine.”

“ _Should be?”_ Roan cries. “Are we really banking on ‘should be?’”

“Do you have a better idea?”

When no one answers, he throws his hands up in the air. “Alright – thank you! Everyone, be quiet!”

Gunfine rains through the branches and Bellamy flinches as he runs. “You better be right, man.” Miller says quietly. “Because there are only two ways this ends.”

“I know, I know.”

“I think I liked it better when you were just trying to get back to your sister. I was shot at less.”

“Can’t say I disagree.” Bellamy groans.

The group of them break through the line into Polis, the dilapidated tower looming ahead. Bellamy stops at the base of it, everyone looking up. There’s a flickering light at the top, and it may be a trick of his sight, but it looks like there is movement at the top.

“Go.” Miller says, grabbing his gun from behind his back. “Get Clarke. We got your back.”

“And we’re all regretting it.” Murphy drawls.

Bellamy looks at everyone, guns drawn. He tries not to feel too emotional when they all look at him. “I’ll be back.” Is the only thing that comes out.

“May we meet again.” Miller says with a smirk.

Roan lets out a sigh. “If you don’t leave soon, I will make sure you won’t.”

“You’re a delight.” Bellamy snarks. Then he pauses. “Seriously. May we meet again.”

“Just go get the girl, you’re kinda exhausting.”

“Right back at you.”

_“No!”_

The shout is panicked, and frantic from above. Everyone lifts their heads up to where the shout comes from at the top of the tower, Bellamy’s blood running cold. “Clarke,” he breathes.

***

“I will fight you!” Clarke says, struggling against the chains that bond her wrists. “I will fight you every hour of every day!”

Mother looks at her. “You know, I don’t think you’re lying. I do think that you will do so. The issue, Clarke, is that you’re forgetting one thing.”

Clarke stops her struggling to look at the woman she called ‘Mother’ for such a long time. It’s as if the veil has lifted from her eyes and she’s seeing the woman for the first time. She’s cold and cruel, harsh and bitter – nothing a mother should be. Clarke feels the iron against her wrists and she tries to remain brave.

Have courage.

Listen to her head, and her heart.

Before this day, she thought she didn’t have the strength.

But oh, she fought demons today and walked to the other side.

“I’m not afraid of you.” Clarke says without a hint of fright in her voice.

“That’s where you would be foolish, stupid girl.” Mother states, locking the chain to the wall. “Because I don’t need all of you. I just need your hair. As long as you are breathing and can sustain your hair, I have everything you need. And you know what you need to run away?”

Clarke tries not to show any sign of fear.

“Legs. Let’s take one, shall we?”

_“No!”_

Clarke panics, unsure of what to do. The woman grabs her ankles and starts to drag her, pinning the shackles so she can’t move. “No! Stop! Stop it!”

“No, no, Clarke. You were right. You’ll never stop fighting. And the best way I can think of to prevent you from running away again is taking the thing you can run away with.”

“Please don’t take my legs,” Clarke says, tears pricking her eyes. “Don’t take my legs.”

“I can’t trust you, Clarke.” Mother states. “I told you that you couldn’t see the lights and what did you do? You went out and saw them anyway. Your rebellious phase is going to get you into trouble.”

“Stop!” Clarke shouts. She pulls against the restraints. “Stop it, please!”

The woman rummages around, pulling out a small box. “You know, Clarke. I know everything about you. I know you were the daughter of the Chancellor of Arkadia. I know that she drank the radioactive flower to survive, which gave your hair its powers. But I realize, you don’t know much about me.”

The woman stops when she finds something, a wry smile on her lips. Clarke feels the iron against her skin, desperately tugging and pulling against it, even though she knows it will not budge.

She pulls out a large blade, peering at it.

“I am the Queen of Ice Nation. Which means I am the Queen of the Ground.” She states, eyeing the blade. There are flecks of blood against the steel, Clarke doing her best not to think of whose it is. “Ice Nation deserves the land. It has fought, it has struggled, and it has bled for everything it has. And your mother comes along and _steals_ the one piece of the ground that will keep power in Ice Nation? No.”

The woman turns to Clarke. “You sky people think that whatever you touch is yours. I am going to show you and all your people that it isn’t the case.”

“Please,” Clarke says, her eyes watering. She can’t control her fear – her shaking. All she can do is look at the blade.

“I don’t trust you, Clarke. So we’re doing this the Ice Nation way.”

Marching over to where Clarke is held down, the woman pulls up her dress. “It’s a shame. You’re so soft, compared to the rest of the world. Although, you’re the one who wanted to experience what the real world is like. I suppose it’s time to show you.”

Running the blade across her thigh, the woman smirks.

Clarke screams.

It’s nothing she’s ever felt before.

It’s as if she’s on fire and can’t breathe all at once.

There’s a loud noise at the window of the tower, but Clarke can barely register it. She’s trying to see past the pain, but for some reason, it feels _loud_ and she can’t find any way to push past it.

But there’s something else going on to her right and her head lolls to the side.

Just in time to see Mother at Bellamy’s side, swiping the blade across.

_“NO!”_ She screams again, it loud even in her ears.

She watches Bellamy fall, and it’s a tragedy she’s never felt.

She thought Mother cutting her was painful. She sees stars before her eyes and she tries to push past him, just enough to see him fall. Clarke thinks she may be crying out to him but perhaps she’s simply crying – she can’t be sure.

“What are you doing?” Clarke cries. “Why would you do that?”

“You need to be taught a lesson, Clarke.” Mother states, wiping her blade. “Not all stories have a happy ending. In fact, most do not.”

“No,” she cries, the sobs she’d been stifling finally pouring out. She watches Bellamy crumble to the ground, his hand on his side. Blood seeps through his fingers as small noises come from his mouth, his shoulder crashing onto the rug. “N-No, _no, Bellamy, please.”_

“This is life, Clarke.” Mother states, standing where Bellamy is on the ground. With a swift kick, she turns him over and he cries out, his hands on his side. “This is what _love_ does. Love is a weakness. This man makes you weak. Weaker than you already are.” Her foot steps down where his hands are covering his wound and he lets out a wounded noise that grates Clarke’s ears.

“P-Please, please stop.” Clarke sobs, squeezing her eyes shut. She can’t look at it. She can’t watch him die. “P-P-Please, Mother. _Please._ ”

_“I am not your Mother!”_ The woman shouts, her voice filled with rage and malice. “I am Queen Nia of Ice Nation, and I demand respect. And I will not let a – a common _thief_ come between me and eternal life. It is time you learn, Clarke! You’ve been hidden for too long. _This_ is what life is!”

Taking the blade in her hands, she grips the hilt and places her free hand on top of the other. Raising it above her head, Queen Nia looks at Bellamy with disgust.

_“No!”_ Clarke shrieks. “No, please! I’ll do whatever you want!”

Her hands hesitate. The blade remains above her head.

“I won’t fight. I won’t ever do anything that you don’t want me to. You know, even if you take my leg, even if you take everything from me, I will _never_ stop fighting to get away from you.”

The blade shakes.

“Until my dying breath, I will fight you.” Clarke says, swallowing as she tries to steady her speech. “But.” She breathes. “If you let me save him, I won’t fight.”

“Clarke, no—” Bellamy groans from the ground.

“I won’t fight against you. I’ll do whatever you say, I’ll be the perfect person for you. You won’t have to hide me or drag me around, I will do whatever you want. Please, oh god, _please._ Let me _save him._ ”

Queen Nia keeps the blade above him, her hands shaking a bit. She looks at Bellamy, blood pooling at his side, then at Clarke. “You will not fight?” She asks.

Clarke shakes her head frantically. “No,” she cries. “I promise. I won’t fight. I won’t argue. I will sing the song, I will do whatever you want. Just please let me _save him._ ”

“Clarke, no.” Bellamy says, his eyes watering. “Clarke, please—”

“Mother – I mean, Queen Nia.” Clarke says, cutting herself off with the woman looks at her sharply. “Let me save him.”

The Queen holds for only one more second. She turns to face Clarke, the dagger still in her hand. She holds it over Clarke, the disgust on her face.

She drops the dagger.

Unlocking the shackles, the Queen takes a step back.

As soon as she’s free, Clarke tries to jump down. Her leg gives out and she tumbles to the ground. She barely registers the pain, dragging herself across the floor, her injured leg sliding. She reaches his hand, grabbing and all but pulling herself closer. She clutches his hand, pressing her lips against his knuckles. Clarke isn’t sure why, but she feels the need to assure him she’s there.

“Bellamy, shh, shh.” She says, helping prop him up against a wall. He makes a face, whimpers coming from his mouth. “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”

“Clarke, no.” Bellamy says, adjusting himself and wincing. “Clarke you can’t stay—”

“Bellamy, please.” She says, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. “Please don’t talk. I’m going to save you. Just hold on.”

Grabbing her hair, Clarke pools it around his wound. “Bellamy, I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay—”

“You _not._ ” Bellamy pleads, trying his best to keep his eyes open. “You can’t stay with her.”

“I can.” Clarke says, nodding her head. “I can, if it mean you get to live.”

“Then you won’t.”

“Maybe I just need to figure out a new way to live.” Clarke says, her lower lip trembling. “I can’t let you die.” She reaches out, cupping his face with her free hand. “I-I can’t—”

She bows her head, closing her eyes. She needs to collect herself.

Because Clarke knows.

She knows what she’s giving up. She’s giving up everything. Her freedom, her happiness, her… life? It’s gone.

But she’s never felt more sure of anything.

“I can’t lose you.” She finishes, not even scared of the admission. She’s not afraid of saying it, because it’s what she feels. And this is the last day of her life.

Her life began today.

It ended today.

Today is all she has forever.

“I can’t lose you, Bellamy.” She says, trying to smile at him. “I know we just met, but… I won’t let you die. You can’t.”

Bellamy shakes his head. “Clarke, no. You can’t—”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” She says, stroking the side of his face. “I’m not afraid. You’ll be okay.”

Clarke presses her hair against his chest.

“Clarke, I just need to tell you something,” he says, pulling her closer. “You deserve more than this tower. You can’t let her keep you here. You life has value. You are valuable.” He says, his words breaking. His sucks in a breath, his blood still seeping through his fingers. “You are valuable to me. Your dream was to see the lights. I didn’t realize it, but my dream was to find you.”

Clarke breaks. Pressing her forehead against his chest, she thinks of everything they could have in a different world. She misses it. She misses something she can’t have. “Bellamy—”

“So, I think there’s only one thing I can do.”

With a quick motion, Bellamy swipes a dagger across her hair. Clarke freezes.

She doesn’t register what’s happening while it’s happening. Her head feels lighter, but she feels like it’s for another reason. She can barely catch it before it falls, her golden locks drifting to her lap.

_“NO!”_

Queen Nia screams, grabbing some locks that are draped across the tower. The hair is fading into a brown. Clarke reaches up, feeling the end of her hair. “No,” she whispers, looking at Bellamy, who is now draped with brown hair. “No, Bellamy, what did you do? What did you _do?”_

“No!” Queen Nia shrieks. Her hands are trembling as she tries to clutch every last strand of gold. “No!”

Clarke stares as the years that she’s sung away slowly dissipating. She barely acknowledges the woman. She looks at the husk of her dead hair, set around Bellamy’s chest. “Why did you do this?” Clarke cries. “You… you didn’t let me heal you! What were you thinking?”

“You would die, Clarke.” Bellamy says. He pulls her closer. “You can’t go back to a world imprisoned. This is my last gift to you. Maybe… I could make this right. And be the person I wanted to be. The person you deserve.”

“No, Bellamy. Please.” Clarke cries, gripping his collar. “Please, please don’t leave me.”

“You’ll be okay. You have everything ahead of you. And maybe in another world, we’ll meet again.”

“Bellamy, no—”

His hands drop from her face. “No,” she says frantically, grabbing them. “No, no, no. Bellamy? Bellamy? _Bellamy!”_

He doesn’t respond.

Clarke squeezes her eyes and chokes back a sob. “No, n-no.” She cries, puling him closer.

Pulling him onto her lap, Clarke clutches him. “Bellamy,” she says. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

She puts her head in the crook of his neck, feeling his warmth slowly fade. Tears roll down her nose, dripping onto his shirt. “You were my new dream too.”

They’re in the tower she was trapped in her entire life, but for some reason, she’s never felt more alone.

Holding Bellamy close to her chest, she thinks of everything they could’ve been. Partners, leaders.

Together.

_“Flower, gleam and glow.”_ Clarke sings to the dead room. Her drawings feel like gravestones. Her trinkets feel like bones. _“Let your power shine. Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine.”_

Once was mine.

Clarke thinks about it. Was he ever really hers? It felt like it. In the boat, with the lights floating around them. She felt like they belonged together.

_“What once… way mine.”_ Clarke says, holding him closer.

The hair remains still.

Then, something happens.

The world stirs. Bellamy twitches. Clarke startles, watching his movements.

The blood that’s pooling at his side stops. Clarke’s eyes widen as she watches his skin knits back together. The blood dries and a warmness illuminates his skin. His eyes flutter. “Bellamy?” Clarke asks.

Bellamy’s eyes open. The color returns to his face as he looks around, his eyes searching until he locks on Clarke. “Oh,” he breathes, looking at her.

Clarke waits for only a second, waiting for this moment to be nothing more than a dream. When it doesn’t disappear – when Bellamy’s eyes don’t close – she launches herself at him. She can’t help it. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, squeezing as tight as she can.

“Clarke, that’s really tight.”

“I don’t care.” She squeaks. “I don’t.”

“I don’t think I do either.”

She holds him and can only think of one thing:

This is when her life _finally_ begins.

***

Bellamy tries not to find it adorable.

Clarke runs her fingers through her hair as she stands at the edge of Arkadia. She hasn’t been able to get used to her brown hair, and it probably doesn’t help that Harper gave her an extra set of clothes. She’s taken a little while to get used to all the changes, and Bellamy’s tried and failed to not find it endearing.

“You know, the only way you’re going to meet her is if you walk through the gates.” Bellamy says, standing next to her.

“I’m going to, I just need to make sure I know what to say.”

“We’ve practiced this a million times.”

“We’ve practiced this seven times.” Clarke corrects, her eyes not leaving the giant _‘Arkadia’_ sign. “That is nowhere near a million.”

“Okay, stop using excuses.”

“What if they don’t allow you in!” Clarke says, rounded on him. “I know that you don’t know her well and know that you were outlawed. What if they—”

“As I mentioned before, I have worked that out. So you need to stop making excuses.”

Clarke huffs. She turns to Bellamy, and then back to the sign. “What if…” she says, then stops.

Finally. Getting through the bullshit. “What if what?”

“What if she doesn’t want me?” Clarke says. “What if I’m not what she thinks I’d be and then I’m alone. Again?”

“Clarke, listen, I love you. But that is complete bullshit.”

“Bellamy!”

“No, really. First of all, you’ll never be alone again. Because you have me, and whether you like it or not, you have Miller, Harper, Murphy, Monty, Jasper, Raven. And your mom would be crazy not to want you. You realize we have an entire celebration in order to try and get you back here every year, yes?”

Clarke can’t hide her smile. “Do you think they’ll still do it?”

Bellamy smirks. “Just can’t get enough?”

“I dunno,” Clarke laughs. “It’s kinda a great anniversary.”

“Plus the light makes me look amazing.”

“Bellamy.”

“Seriously, I am meant for a golden glow.”

“Okay, I’m walking in.”

“But let’s talk about what light I look best in.”

“Goodbye!”

“The golden hour!”

“Ugh!”

Clarke lets out a groan and walks in determinedly into Arkadia. Bellamy sucks in a breath, watching the woman he loves march in the world he was afraid to step into. He doesn’t hesitate. Instead knowing – for the first time – everything will be okay.

“Hey, do you think she’ll want me to stand in front of everyone when the lanterns are let go?”

“Bellamy!”

“I think people would appreciate it.”

“Listen you.”

In a quick movement, Clarke spins on her heel and grabs him by the collar. Bellamy startles when her lips reach hers, but he always like this game. She tastes like freedom and lantern light and a future he never thought possible. When Clarke pulls away, he knows.

Today is when their life begins.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I DID IT. THE TANGLED AU.
> 
> Happy January Joy! I’ve made an accompanying Fanart, which I hope is alright. I love you all for sending gifsets my way and threatening me. Honestly , the best way to get me to do something. :P
> 
> I love you all dearly. I hope 2020 is treating you kindly! <3 <3 <3


End file.
